Legionaries' founder declines re-election; Mexican superior elected

Published: 2005-01-24

ROME (CNS) -- Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, the 84-year-old founder of the Legionaries of Christ, declined re-election as superior general of the congregation, citing his age. Members of the Legionaries' general chapter Jan. 20 elected as his successor 47-year-old Mexican Father Alvaro Corcuera Martinez del Rio, rector of the Legionaries' international seminary in Rome. Father Thomas Williams, spokesman for the Legionaries in Rome, said that in addition to his age Father Maciel "was thinking of the long-term future of the congregation, hoping to accompany the new superior and serve as a counselor to him" to ensure continuity. The Legionaries' general director, as the superior is called, is elected for a 12-year term. If he had accepted the decision of the first ballot, Father Maciel would have been accepting the office until he was 96. Father Maciel, who has led the Legionaries since he founded the congregation in 1941, already expressed a desire to have a new general director during the 1993 chapter meeting, but members "begged him to accept re-election," Father Williams said.

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